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SANFRANCISCO, March 14 (Xinhua) -- AprofessorwithUniversityofCalifornia, Berkeley, isonaresearchteamthatpaintslactateinamoresinisterlight -- asakeydriverinthedevelopmentandspreadofcancer.
GeorgeBrooks, arenownresearcherofthecomplex, oftenmisunderstoodmolecule, spenttwoyearsworkingwithInigoSanMillan, directorofthesportsperformancedepartmentandphysiologylaboratoryattheUniversityofColorado (CU) SportsMedicineandPerformanceCenteratCUBoulder, onapaperrecentlypublishedinthejournalCarcinogenesis.
Fordecades, lactatehasbeenstudiedlargelyinthecontextofexercise, paintedasanaggingmetabolicbyproductthataccumulatesinthetissuesandbloodduringworkouts, stiffeningmusclesandhinderingperformance.
Asfarbackas 1923, GermanNobellaureateOttoWarburgobservedthatcancercellstakeinexponentiallymoresugar, orglucose, thannormalcells. Theyinefficientlyconvertfarlessofitintoenergy, ratherconvertingabout 70 percentofittolactateasabyproduct. Thephenomenon, thefirstsignofanormalcellturningcancerousthroughabnormalcellmetabolism, isknownasthe "Warburgeffect."
Withaheightenedfocusongeneticsinrecentdecades, mostresearchersmovedawayfromstudyingcancermetabolism, andtheroleoflactatebecameovershadowed, SanMillansaid.
Thenewstudyilluminatestherolelactateplaysinfuelingangiogenesis, ortheformationofnewbloodvesselsintumors; howitinterfereswiththebody'simmuneresponsetocancer; andhowitcreatesanacidicmicroenvironment, orthespaceoutsidethecancercell, supportiveofcancermetastases, orspread.
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